There we go! The wheel house as it will serve on the boat. This construction was made out of meranti, with larch panels and some paduk for the finishing touch. No screws or nails were used, just some good old dovetails, tenon and mortise joints and of course the inevitable boatbuilding glues - adding up to a very solid and beautiful entity.

While the glue on the deckhouse is curing we prepared several pieces like floor panels and deck hatches - time is money - , up to the final layer of coating. Throughout the whole painting job we use Epifanes 1 component marine paint.

Since temperatures are rising above zero again these days, it's the right timing to install our prepared iroko deckstrips. The strips measure 4 by 3,2 cms and a caulking seam was routed in advance, so we can decide to caulk the deck or just use some modern filling compound.

Today we started building the frame of the new wheelhouse. First step is to cut dovetails in the massive meranti beams that will serve as a solid base for the construction. We will construct the wheelhouse in the shop, and we'll move the finished structure to the deck.

We've been installing new bulkheads in the Stella to create 3 separate waterproof compartments. This will make the boat safer and dryer, and will also reduce the noise from the motor in the wheelhouse.

Mister Louis Pincket visited our workshop this week and he gave a fantastic caulking demonstration. First he explained about the tools and caulking mallet used in this all but forgotten trade. After that he caulked a seam of our restoration project Stella. This live demo was worth more than a thousand books. For this, I thank you, Louis!